Dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
2022 | 100 mins | Ukraine, France, Poland, Chile, Luxembourg
Ukrainian with English subtitles
Oleksandr Yatsentyuk, Stanislav Potiak, Solomiia Kyrylova

SHOWING TIMES:

• Sat 13 May: 6pm
• Tue 16 May: 5pm* + intro

Set in the run-up to a traditional carnival in rural Western Ukraine, writer-director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s feature debut follows an eponymous ex-smuggler whose plans to go straight are thwarted by small-town corruption.

When Pamfir (Oleksandr Yatsentyuk) returns to his home on the Ukrainian border after months abroad, he’s determined to earn an honest living, but his plans are quickly derailed by his teenage son Nazar’s (Stanislav Potyak) misguided actions. To set things right, Pamfir has no choice but to take on a new and uniquely risky smuggling job, for a crime syndicate operating in a place where all the rules have changed.

Part drama, part thriller, part noir-inflected fairytale, Pamfir is violent, raw and bloody, but also a tender portrait of a family man trying to raise his son well despite his own chequered past. Shot in long takes and set amid forests swirling with mist in the run-up to the traditional ‘Malanka’ carnival – a wild pagan festival featuring straw costumes, wooden masks and centuries-old rites and traditions – it’s a propulsive, genre-defying debut that paints an elemental, unvarnished portrait of Ukraine.

Tuesday’s screening will be introduced by Dr. Bryan Brown of the University of Exeter and the Devon Ukrainian Association (DUA)

@convocafeexeter

Join members of DUA in our Café Bar after the screening for an informal conversation about the film and how to get involved with other cultural and support activities with the Devon Ukrainian community.

VENUE: EXETER PHOENIX, STUDIO 74

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>